Deck of Souls is an early-access deck-building roguelite. It’s a tried and tested formula, and while Deck of Souls doesn’t do anything particularly innovative, it does what it does well. The art style is simple but consistent, the sound effects and music are excellent and unobtrusive, and the gameplay has enough variety and replayability to immerse you. Let’s get into it!

What’s the skinny? How does Deck of Souls work?

In a series of turn-based combats, you draw and play cards against a variety of well-drawn enemies. You get to play one card per enemy, so combats feel pretty fair and balanced. Like many games in the genre, success in Deck of Souls relies on building a repertoire of cards that synergise with one another.

For example, on one of my more successful runs, I managed to make a build that relied on piling on armour and block to take enemies down. Of course, it’s all luck of the draw – but isn’t that what makes roguelites fun?

Combats and encounters are linked together on an FTL-style map. You can see what flavour of encounter is ahead – be that a fight, a random encounter, a chance to level up etc. – and choose your optimal path.

Defeating enemies grants you souls of various flavours, which you can use to level up your character’s stats or equipment. Bit grim. But we love it.

Story & Art

I’m a big fan of the art style in Deck of Souls. It’s pixelated, but more than detailed enough to know what you’re looking at. It’s colourful without being overwhelming and super consistent.

My one qualm with the art, however, is the UI. It feels a bit programmer-art, a bit placeholder. I can’t be sure if that’s a stylistic choice or if it’s due to be revisited, though. For now, it’s a bit lacking.

The music is great, really helps to set the grim fantasy vibe.

The story is hidden in dialogue with NPCs you encounter and beat the crap out of. There’s a tale of divinity, rebelling agents of higher powers, and redemption. The joy for me in Deck of Souls was discovering the story as I went and figuring out my own character’s motivations, so I won’t be spoiling it here. Suffice it to say, I really like the writing in this game!

Final verdict: Is it worth a go?

I would say if any of the above appeals to you at all, give Deck of Souls a chance. In places, it still feels a bit unpolished, but overall, it has promise. If roguelites or deck builders are in your wheelhouse, this will be a good entry. It fills a Slay the Spire-shaped hole. At less than a tenner, the price is great too.

As the developers move through early access, they have a roadmap of features that, refreshingly for an early-access game, seem realistic and achievable. I’ll certainly be sticking with the development of this one and returning for future updates.

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The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak is out now RPG fans and it is brilliant. With a new bunch of characters, with some old favourites peppered in, this is a fascinating new chapter.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak: Welcome to Calvard

After years of travelling across Zemuria, beginning my adventure in Erebonia with Class 7, and then making my way to Crossbell with the SS, it’s exciting to finally be in Calvard. With Van, the self-proclaimed spriggan, players find themselves embroiled in a battle for the soul of Calvard as sinister forces are using its recent prosperity to change the country, and not for the better.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak has all the stalwarts of previous entries. It includes an eccentric cast of playable characters, equally impressive villains and a thoroughly fleshed-out world.

What has changed is several quality-of-life elements. There has been an upgrade in graphics which allows the denizens of Calvard to pop off the screen. The various locations are also enchanting to visit.

On top of this though is an overhaul of the combat system. There are two styles of combat. One is where you throw out a “shard” which thrusts everyone in it into battle. This is similar to the original entries, however, there is a fluidity to it that makes it feel looser and more intense. Then there is the second combat style.

With this second style, you dodge and attack your enemies, though you don’t get full access to your skills, arts or crafts there is a wildness to it that I enjoyed. These two styles make for a thoroughly enjoyable time whenever Van and his motley crew do battle with the baddies, whether they be monsters, the villainous Almata or old favourites Oroborous.

Helping in these battles is a new kind of orbment filled with shiny new toys. Utilising the Xipha allows you to add status effects to your weapons, increase buffs at the beginning of a battle and so much more. It’s an impressive new iteration of a feature that has been around for a while in the franchise.

Embrace the Nightmare

One of the new elements which reminded me of playing as Rean and Valimar was the power of Grendel. This being is a kind of demonic armour which Van utilises in battle. It’s a lot of fun and evolves as the story progresses.

If there were any issues it would be some complacencies that just pet peeves. We are far into this series and still, there are no weapon skins when you buy a new weapon, which is something I love in RPGs.

Following Van, Agnes, Feri and the rest of this new merry band has been a lot of fun and the ramifications of The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak will be sure to excite longtime fans.

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Rise once again Tarnished, answer the call of the kindly Miquella and follow his pilgrimage through the lands of shadow. Journey across a new land filled with beautiful and grotesque landmarks to behold. Discover a new cast of characters to introduce yourself to and follow their journeys. Not only that, uncover an arsenal of new weaponry and magic to wield and unleash upon your foes. Remember one important thing, when you get to the Shadow Realm, you are going to die. A lot. Shadow of the Erdtree is the newly released DLC of FromSoftware’s critically acclaimed 2022 title Elden Ring. It is a huge expansion on top of the base game taking place solely within the impressively massive Shadow Realm, where you once again step into the shoes of the Tarnished as they answer the call of Miquella.

The content can be accessed once you defeat Mohg in the base game (I highly recommend using a guide for this if you’ve forgotten how to access his arena as a returning player). From there you are teleported into a dark cave in total silence and as you make your way outside you are greeted by an absolutely stunning skybox. A gigantic golden tree looms in the distance, draped in cloth-like shadow, the world washed with different shades of gold and black and a score rises alongside as the reveal happens, the opening minute sets the tone and easily reminds you why you fell in love with this game two years ago.

The world of Elden Ring has never been so scary in scope

The map is massive, with more verticality in the placement of locations, layering them above and below the player. It is so easy to get lost in this world and I don’t mean in the sense of wandering with no direction. You can fall deep into the beauty and horror of the lands you travel. The world is littered with landmarks in the distance and just travelling over to them will start a Rube Goldberg machine of events taking you off the beaten path and on an adventure. The sense of discovery in this game feels so natural. You will find secret areas, items, bosses and accomplishments that feel like you have earned them with no guidance, just your own intuition. You made this discovery possible by just having a nosey around the sides of a cliff or behind a waterfall.

I’ve found myself re-assigning my levels constantly during my playthrough. This is mostly due to the new arrangement of weapons available (shoutout to the ‘DryLeaf Arts’ martial arts weapon). Each one provides its own unique style of play and has been tremendously fun to play around with so far. I highly recommend you use a save file with most of the base game explored. At the very least grab the bell bearings to easily have access to buy all purchasable smithing stones back at the Roundtable from the Bell Maidens so you can hastily upgrade the new weapons as you acquire them and jump back into the DLC to try them out. Weapons are great but what you use them on is what’s important. Shadow of the Erdtree has a plethora of new enemies and bosses for the Tarnished to run at.

Some of these new foes are returning from the base game but the new additions will leave you either in awe as you see them approach or shout out in fear when you see them charging you down. FromSoftware’s approach to balancing this DLC was the introduction of ‘Scadutree Fragments and Revered Ashes’.

Beware the shadow of the Erdtree

Fragments will increase your attack and defence while ashes strengthen your summons. These only apply inside the DLC, and they do not affect stats when you return to the base game. I cannot stress this enough you need to collect these things! I entered at level 215 and I was being killed in either two or three hits by regular enemies. The difference these upgrades make is night and day. A number of them can be found by exploring the opening area of the DLC.

Shadow of the Erdtree is a beautiful expansion on an already beautiful game. I’ve not finished the DLC as of writing this and most of that is because I just can’t stop running off in the opposite direction of the main path looking for stuff to discover. It’s big, bold, brutal and beautiful. My only gripe is the game has great difficulty keeping a playable framerate in some areas. I had to stop using one of my weapon arts during an encounter due to the game chugging so much.

These are things that get ironed out down the line in a patch hopefully. I really enjoyed my time and once I regained my muscle memory of the controls and familiarised myself with my build again, I left like I was catching up with an old friend I hadn’t seen in years. Just picking back up where we left off like no time had passed at all. FromSoftware has created a magical world again. They could easily be looking at even more awards for Elden Ring due to their hard work and craft.

These words were written in blood by the Tarnished Lewis Magee.

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2024-06-11

Go-Go Town! is an unholy mishmash of games that manages to be chaotic, charming, unhinged and compelling all in one. It’s colourful. So, so silly. And it’s fun!

Imagine, if you will, someone taking Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, and the Mii Parade from the Wii and shoving them in a food blender. Spray the whole thing with brightly coloured paint and add a big dollop of goofy. Now you’ve got Go-Go Town!

The game starts with you, the player character, being flung from a moving vehicle in a duffle bag. After that, one of what seems to be the Men in Black tells you that you’re the new mayor of a half-block of podunk nowhere. He and his cohort of identical Agent Smith lookalikes teach you the basics of running a town, then get the hell out of dodge. You’re the mayor now! Congrats!

What’s a mayor gotta do?

As the player, your job (if you choose to accept it) is simple: grow the town, and make money. That’s about it. At first, you have to gather and process the materials yourself (classic mine rocks-smelt rocks, chop wood-saw wood stuff). You build houses for your residents, businesses for them to work in, and provide the raw materials for their jobs. At first, it’s simple materials, like rocks to make pet rocks (nope – not joking). As the game progresses, however, more lucrative jobs need more complex materials, processed multiple times.

Also, because you’re the mayor, you get to cut a cute little red ribbon for every new building. It’s the little things, isn’t it?

As your town grows, you can get the residents to start doing the grunt work like, for instance, gathering and processing materials. You can hire a courier to ferry materials around, a bin man to collect the rubbish, etc. etc. Who’d have thought? A town where the mayor doesn’t have to empty the bins! Will wonders never cease?

Who’s buying this stuff, you may ask? Firstly, it’s Townies. These are the residents of Go-Go Town! My first Towny, for example, was called Baldo. He was bald. He wouldn’t join my town until I hit 15 people with my car (again – nope, not kidding). Go figure. Secondly, there are the Tourists. These are mainly – and I wish I was kidding – ghosts and werewolves. They pretty much just wander around buying things and gawking at the sights. This generates Ego, which brings us nicely to…

Click to view slideshow.

Tech Progression in Go-Go Town!

Ego is the “research” currency in the game. Mainly, it allows you to unlock new structures, recipies and so on. Because each unlock provides a limited number of buildings, you’re gonna want to spend Ego often. Because Go-To Town!‘s progression is in set tiers, each new unlock brings you closer to advancing the whole town. Neat!

Speaking of which, once you reach specific milestones, you unlock Challenges! These, funnily enough, challenge you to hit certain goals (mostly, make x amount of money in y amount of time) and then you level up the town. Radical.

All this combined makes for super addictive gameplay. Because the systems are so complex but intuitive, you find yourself saying things like “If I just gather more octopuses to turn into sausages (somehow), I’ll get enough money to impress all these ghosts into making my town bigger”. Wow, it really is bizarre when you lay it all out like that. However – super fun.

Early access: should you get involved?

Go-Go Town! go-goes into early access on June 18th. We’ve all been burned by early-access games in the past. So, should you get it?

Long story short, yes. If you like cozy resource management games, you’ll like this. Moreover, if you like goofy bizarro weirdness fever dreams, you’ll like this.

Long story long, here’s some pros and cons:

Pros:

++ Compelling gameplay loop

++ Goofy & charming humour

++ Visually and musically lovely

++ Huge amount of content to sink your teeth into

Cons:

— The progression is pretty linear, so replayability isn’t great. As a result you can’t specialise your town, and you’ll always progress through the tiers in pretty much the same way

— Resource gathering is tedious and your Townies are very, very slow at doing it for you

Overall, I’d recommend it. If in doubt, there’s a demo out right now on Steam and you can try it out for yourself!

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It’s 2024 and we’re deep into the ninth generation of consoles. We have graphics that are so beautiful that some people cannot differentiate between what is real life and what is computer-generated when looking at a screenshot. The aforementioned gorgeous scenery is usually paired with a grand score, layers upon layers of instruments and sound effects creating an audio soundscape to invoke feelings and emotions of what is on screen. None of that matters here though. Save Me Mr.Tako is locked into 8-bits but that doesn’t matter either because this game stands out and it stands out well.

Handheld memories

Save Me Mr.Tako is a love letter to the original handheld gaming experience all kids from the 80s and 90s grew up playing, the Game Boy. Using an 8-bit colour palette of those instantly recognisable tones of black and greens, this title limits itself with what they can use visually and proves that when in good hands, less can be more. The default display ratio is 4:3 with a large selection of custom-made overlays to fill in the black bars on the sides.

The opening overlay is a tribute to the Super Game Boy for the SNES. The graphics aren’t just greener on the other side, Save Me Mr.Tako has several different colour palettes to switch between at the press of one of the triggers. You can pick your favourite and play through the entire game with the colour of your choice or set it to auto and have the colours change as you progress each level.

Enough about the graphics, let’s talk about the soundtrack. Each track has a catchy melody that fits the level you’re traversing. I’ve found myself at times during my review just scrolling on my
phone longer than I should have because I was just happily bopping away to the soundtrack in the background. The melodies created here fit each area perfectly and are a match for what’s taking place on screen.

Gameplay

I’m just going to say this out straight with no analogy. The controls are tight and responsive with absolutely no messing about. As far as platformers are concerned, Save Me Mr.Tako has some of the best feeling controls out there today. Any mistake I’ve made during platforming was my fault, never due to the controls or the game itself… sorry, that sentence is a bit of a lie as I never made any mistake during platforming because the controls are that good!

As the game progresses Tako will gain access to hats. These grant you abilities you use in combat and traversing the world. Speaking of combat, Tako shoots ink at his enemies which freezes them in place for a few seconds. While frozen, they become platforms you can traverse on. With time, practice and a keen eye for the environment. You can use enemies to your advantage to reach new and sometimes secret areas with precise shots and movement.

The game has a level select hub, kind of like Super Mario Land and town hubs. Even though the game is level-based like old-school platformers, there are story beats contained within. Unlike Super Mario of old which gives you a piece at the beginning and the ending, Save Me Mr.Tako tells its story throughout with a cast of characters and an engaging story of sea vs land.

One of my favourite moments was being told the princess ran off to the east. When I went back to the level select hub, the next level doorway that opened up was just to the right of me, matching the direction previously provided to me.

Critiques

If I have anything to critique about this game it would be that playing this on a large TV was quite straining on the eyes. I enjoy my old Gameboy games but staring at them on a 53-inch television was hard after a while. If you can pick this up on a handheld I’d push you towards that.

Short and sweet review this time folks, I do recommend you give Save Me Mr.Tako a play if you’re in the market for a new platformer with a little extra sprinkled on top. It’s a blast to play and it’s also a blast from the past too.

These sweet salty words were brought to you by Lewis Magee.

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Arabian Nights no more

Coriolis: The Great Dark is more than just a sequel to The Third Horizon. It expands the universe and drags the story away from the Middle East-influenced Science Fiction of the last books. The setting I thing is much cooler (pun intended). Coriolis: The Great Dark is set far beyond the last iteration of the game. Colony ships have fled the growing war and have followed a faint signal that many think could be the Nadir, sister ship to the Zenith.

As the signal dies the colonists are stranded in a dead system they call Jumuah. To make things worse the portal that should lead them out is dead. The colonists established a single city on an asteroid called, and I shit you not “‘The Ship City of Coriolis the Eternal and Jumuah the First and Last”. I know right but thankfully it gets shortened to City Ship. In true Coriolis style, they decide to send expeditions into the depts. Where they fight Alien ruins and a disease called the Blight.

A new System for a new system

To push home that Coriolis: The Great Dark is an updated version they have modified the previous rule system that flies more closely to the Year Zero Engine (YZE). This is a welcomed change as if you have played any Free League games you will be very familiar with how easy it is to use. Most changes are small like six attributes rather than the usual four, talents instead of skills.

The two big ones for me are no more Darkness Point mechanics. This is replaced with Hope because there is nothing worse than the loss of all Hope. The other is the new Delve mechanic. The group will make Delves into the ruins to retrieve artifacts. With each Delve the group will have to bring significant supplies, oxygen canisters, food, water, batteries, etc… or else they won’t be coming back. Each one has a difficulty rating (0-3) and markers that show what each character needs supply-wise to make it back. Plans will go out the window as unexpected monsters, blight, and sneaky NPC will ruin your day.

Beauty in the darkness

As usual, the book itself looks amazing. The artwork though different than The Third Horizon is still beautiful. It’s dark and lonely and for some reason has a feel of Event Horizon to me in contrast to the warmth of the last books.

In the pack you get Coriolis: The Great Dark, a quickstart book but you also get four pre-generated character sheets. These are for The Algebraist Apprentice with Bird, The Wreck Diver, The Guild Soldier, and The Vacuum Welder.

If you play Coriolis then you will get The Great Dark and if you don’t and want to start from the start then you better hurry up as Free League is discontinuing the printing of The Third Horizon. I would recommend this game especially if space exploration is your bag.

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2024-04-26

Battlefield Earth

Flooded, devastated cities, violent mutated bug monsters, a general sense of hopelessness… no, not modern Britain but the premise of Stellar Blade! Stellar Blade is an action adventure game that borrows from many sources, with admittedly few of its own tricks. As a new first-party exclusive published by Sony and developed by Korean developer Shift Up, this follows Rise of the Ronin as a refreshing change of pace for Sony. Far from their cinematic third person output, this is very much a video game of moment to moment action rather than narrative emphasis. This is a godsend as the narrative is probably the ropiest aspect! So does Stellar Blade live up to its name or is it about to be cut down to size?

Stellar Blade Running

At first then combat comes across as quite basic, the standard attack, counter attack then punish loop. Quickly though you’ll unlock new moves and different types of counter attack opportunities that make fighting monsters a much more engaging process. Every slash feels visceral, the super moves you charge up landing with an exceptional oomph. These moves can break shields and interrupt combos so timing their use is essential. The counter is also very satisfying, not as unforgiving as recent similar games. Knocking enemies into a staggered phase never gets tired. Despite some really wacky enemy designs their attacks are very readable, truly mitigating the usual frustrations of these systems. Exploring the environments for health and attack energy upgrades leads to some interesting traversal opportunities and challenging combat encounters, so going off the beaten track is definitely recommended. Unlocking Souls-style shortcuts to earlier areas is always pleasant, bringing you closer to base camps where you can purchase items , upgrade abilities and save. 

Click to view slideshow.

A Cut Above?

Graphically this is a real tale of two (flooded) cities. The world and monsters look superb, the post-apocalyptic world being a mix of realism and a kind of maximalism seen in classic depictions of Gotham City. However, the human characters… are just plain creepy. Eve and her fellow space-warriors all share a bizarre plastic quality. This, combined with their cartoonish proportions give the impression of playing as an expensive sex doll. Initially decked out in the tightest wet suit it’s a relief when you finally unlock alternate costumes. As opposed to a Bayonetta or a 2B, Eve is just a wet blanket which only adds to the visual awkwardness . A very odd miss for a game with otherwise excellent visuals. The music is mostly melancholy pop-songs with repetitive lyrics. They oddly fit the tone of the game but could be incredibly off-putting for the less musically-forgiving.

Despite some rough edges, Stellar Blade is a rock solid adventure with an addictive gameplay loop. If you look past Eve’s screen-hogging bum, you’ll find a world of downtrodden splendour with alien freaks to battle and side-quests to discover.

If nothing else it’s inspiring to see a fairly new development team create a title this polished and simultaneously large-scale. Indeed, this may be the Eve of something great.

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2024-04-08

An Old Story for a New Beginning

For people out of the loop (myself included), Outcast – A New Beginning is a sequel to the 1999 classic action-adventure Outcast by Appeal. In its heyday, Outcast caused quite a ruckus to its genre. Said ruckus included being named “Action Game of the Year” by Gamespot in 1999! Nonetheless, not many people may know it, Outcast – A New Beginning has some pretty large boots to fill. It may not be fair to callously compare both titles to each other as a lot has changed in the gaming industry since 1999, but it’s worth noting the history and context of Appeal’s latest release today. So, does this classic callback shape up to the modern age of gaming, has Appeal still got it after all these years?

The Right Tool for the Job

Outcast puts you in the boots of one Cutter Slade, (same protagonist as the last game) a former Navy Seal who assisted in dimensional travel in Outcast 1. Set on the planet Adelpha, Cutter is resurrected by the native deities of this planet. A mysterious past haunts him as he traverses his way across a once-familiar Adelpha. But now a shadowy robotic army is extracting its natural resources and exploiting its inhabitants, called the Talan.

You get a lot of Cutter’s character in each cutscene and interaction. I mean A LOT. At first, his snide, quippy remarks do land and get a small smirk out of me. But this quickly runs dry after the tutorial zone. Again, I know this is a character from the 1990s and he sits alongside other greats of his era such as Duke Nukem, and Spyro. However, he feels very played out and more of an annoyance on screen than a loveable titular character. I tried to like him, I really did try but when most of your lines are rhetorical knee-slappers from the stereotypical military man, it just gets exhausting. Particularly against the backdrop of an alien planet such as Adelpha.

The planet of Adelpha can be engrossing at times, even pretty. I want to say the open world is large and expansive, but I would say it’s closer to a medium-sized Ubisoft map! The planet’s inhabitants, the Talan, offer much exposition (opposite the HILARIOUS and corny Slade remarks) and lore to the player which some people will find engrossing. Outside of the story quests, it’s honestly the same old format we see nowadays, unfortunately. Go here, kill things, fetch this, which doesn’t do many favours for Cutter or the story. I do not even think though, that it is the story that will bring people to Outcast – A New Beginning.

Jet Setter

I do think that people will come and stay for Outcast’s gameplay. This is thanks in large part to Cutters equipment he procures in his adventures. Your main tools are your gun, shield and jetpack (courtesy of the invading robot army). Each tool at your disposal has a fairly linear skill tree full of impactful unlocks. You collect certain resources to unlock certain abilities along your journey. Some side quests also reward you with new skills, so as painful as they are they’re generally worth a look.

As soon as I unlocked the hover ability on my jetpack, I understood what Outcast had to offer. It features some of the finest movement mechanics of an action-adventure game I have encountered in a long time. Butter smooth flight mechanics and some solid gunplay kept me locked into Outlast all throughout my playthrough. Shield-smashing robots, gliding around Adelpha for the lolz. I have not enjoyed an action adventure this much since Elden Ring people. I want to give Outcast full marks off the merit of movement, but with everything else combined, I think it’s fair to say Outcast – A New Beginning has superbly well-rounded gameplay.

Verdict

The developers over at Appeal know the essence of action-adventure. Although many story elements, ambience and likeable characters fell by the wayside in this game’s development, Appeal seems to still have a good grasp on what makes action-adventure so fun.

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Granblue Fantasy is a fascinating franchise. It has a vast and wondrous story as well as interesting characters and it has some engaging beat ’em up titles. What it has been missing for me though is a proper RPG. This is where Granblue Fantasy: Relink comes in. It’s an absolute blast.

Following the crew of the GrandCypher as they make their journey to the fabled land of Estalucia, players play as the Captain. Players can still choose between a male or female version of the character. On one particularly fateful day the crew are attacked by monsters and unleashes the primal Bahamut to deal with them. Unfortunately, something happens to Bahamut and he goes berserk, attacking the crew. After an extended and intense battle, Bahamut is subdued. After landing at a new Skyport and trying to figure out what’s wrong Lyria is kidnapped by a cult wishing to use her powers for their own mysterious means.

With our pact partner spirited away by evildoers, it’s up to us and the GrandCypher crew to save her and likely save the world in the process.

Primals, powers and so much more

Granblue Fantasy: Relink is absolutely brilliant. The action elements of this game are stellar and players get access to so many playable characters. The combination attacks are easy to learn and fun to master. There are link attacks which combine all the abilities of your allies to devastating effect and it makes for a strangely communal experience, especially if you go online and play with friends. The best part though is the impressive cast of characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Granblue Fantasy: Relink is also crammed with stuff to do. There are tons of sidequests that you can undertake with your friends or the AI companions in tow. Though the sidequests become somewhat rinse and repeat they’re a fun way to grind if you’re under-levelled for the main story. Also, they help you build all the resources you need to craft your gear.

The story of Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a fun new chapter in the Granblue franchise and has some great new enemies to contend with. My particular favourite is Id voiced by the legendary Kenjiro Tsuda. He’s equal parts menace and stoic charm. Plus the graphics are gorgeous. The world is flush with vivid colours with an art style that just pops off the screen.

Stacked with lovable characters, intense battles and gameplay mechanics that compel you to keep coming back for more Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a must for RPG fans.

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Finally, Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters has had a console release. In doing that I have been able to get my hands on it. I have been a fan of all things Warhammer since my teens (I won’t indulge my age but trust me it’s a long time) so I will jump at any chance if I get to review any game in the settings. Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters piqued my interest because it featured the Grey Knight Chapter. It is very rarely you see them out in the wild never mind in a game but I will get into them later.

Did someone order Chapter 666?

In Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters you follow the Grey Knights Flagship, Baleful Edict. The Grey Knights are a secretive chapter of the Space Marines who specialize in hunting down and eradicating all Demon threats to the Imperium of Man. The ship is returning to the Grey Knight home-world of Titan for repairs when it is commandeered by Inquisitor Vikar.

The Inquisitor needs the help of the formidable Chapter as a nearby star system has had a terrible plague
unleashed upon it by the powers of the Chaos God, Nurgle. This you will find out is called The Bloom and
transforms those infected into various Nurgle-type monsters. The main objective for the players is to keep the bloom in check by not letting it spread from the system. You will also manage the Baleful Edict by managing repairs, researching weapons, updating barracks to receive more Knights, and talking to various characters to ease the tensions between your knights, the Inquisitor, and the Mechanicium.

Blooming hell

If you have played XCOM or the like then you will be very familiar with the gameplay mechanics in Chaos Gate –Daemonhunters. As I mentioned above there is some ship management. The ship screen is the main place for requests, repairs, and upgrades for both the ship and your squad. It will also be where the system map can be found. Here you can travel from planet to planet and wherever The Bloom rises. You will need to make tough choices on which planet needs your squad’s help the most as others will fall to The Bloom. You can also advance time on the map screen to finish the research or let a Knight recover from injuries. It is handy to do but you will find yourself doing it less and less as you will have to stay on top of The Bloom growth in the system.

This won’t take long as the Grey Knights will be called by Inquisitor Vikar into action. Most missions are
investigation or retrieval and can get a bit repetitive after a while. Once down on the planet, you will be launched into a familiar turn-based tactical game. Each character in your squad can take different actions each turn. They can use an ability, to find cover, reload, or attack the many enemies that you encounter. As I said if you have played XCOM or the likes you will pick this up easily the only real difference is Chaos Gate tells you straight off if you will hit or miss with an attack. One of the great mechanics is the enemies’ stun value. Get this to zero and you can trigger an execution. This not only looks great but as a bonus, you give all squad members an extra action.

In Daemonhunters there is only Grimdark

The look and feel of Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters is everything you want from a Warhammer 40,000 game. The settings are Gothic and Grimdark. It’s like the tabletop game itself in many ways. There are a few little issues that I didn’t like. The character interactions were a bit bland and uneventful. I put this down to them being scrolling text with a voiceover, I would have preferred a cut scene or something with a bit of life in it. The same can be said about the storyline it is fairly basic for a Warhammer 40K game. The gameplay does get repetitive especially once you get the hang of things but there is a big difficulty curve. Just keep an eye on the Bloom meter as when it hits 100% you will get swamped with enemies. This is chaotic especially as you only have a small squad of Grey Knights.

All in all, this is a game that any Warhammer fan should play. It has all that you need to feel like you are in the setting. You also get some insight into the workings of the Grey Knights, Nurgle, and the Inquisition. By the Emperor’s Throne, you won’t want to miss out.

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